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This Snap-On Sensor Could Tell Farmers Exactly How Much To Water Their Crops

/in /by /Smithsonian.comby Nathan Hurst

The system, for which the Penn State Research Foundation has applied for an international patent, features a clip-on unit that contains sensors to detect the thickness and electrical capacitance, or the ability to store a charge, of individual leaves. The array of sensors is connected to a WiFi node, which transmits the data to a central unit that tracks the measurements over time and uses them as indicators of water stress. Eventually, a smartphone app could run the whole system.

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BLOG: Whittling Water Worries

/in /by /aNewsCafe.com (Redding)by Courtney Paige Mentioned: Carlsbad Desalination Plant

In 2015, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation on more than $1 billion in spending for water projects. Hundreds of millions of those dollars are allocated for long-term projects associated with flood control, desalination, water recycling, and conservation. One particular project currently in the water works is Southern California’s plan for desalination by turning 50 million gallons of the Pacific Ocean into potable water per day. The plant opened in December of 2015 as the first in the state to tap an ocean for drinking water. More than a dozen other plants in California are in the planning stages.

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Plan to Pump More Water From the Delta Gets Approved

/in /by /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan Sabalow

Federal fisheries regulators have approved a controversial plan opposed by environmental groups that would allow for more pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta this fall. On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signed off on a proposal championed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and south state California water interests to ramp up Delta pumping starting next week.

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Pioneering Wastewater Treatment Method to be Tested in Rialto

/in /by /The San Bernardino Sunby Jim Steinberg

Officials broke ground Wednesday on a pilot plant to demonstrate a new wastewater treatment technology that promises to save energy, land, water and capital expense over existing technologies. The project is being funded through a $1.56 million grant from the California Energy Commission. The technology was developed by BDPEnviroTech, a Laguna Hills-based company that, by the end 2017, will have more than 30 projects using this technology operational in China, said CEO Eric Li.

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Rate Dispute Between Water Districts Continues After Court Refuses to Intervene

/in /by /Times of San Diegoby Hoa Quach Quoted: Mark Muir

The state Supreme Court Wednesday refused to intervene in an ongoing rate dispute between the San Diego County Water Authority and Metropolitan Water District, leaving in place an appellate decision that gives both sides a partial victory. The Water Authority has sued the MWD, the primary water wholesaler in California, multiple times over costs, which are ultimately absorbed by San Diego County consumers. The California Supreme Court’s decision not to review an appellate court ruling was in one of three lawsuits.

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Water Authority Loses Long-Running Bid Against Arch-Rival to Lower Water Costs

/in /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard Quoted: Mark Muir

For years, San Diego water officials argued the region’s major supplier of water, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, charges too much to deliver water to San Diego from the Colorado River. On Wednesday, the state Supreme Court declined to take up the case, leaving a lower court ruling siding with Metropolitan in place.The Water Authority picked up smaller savings, amounting to an estimated $1.1 billion in the next several decades. But that’s about $6 billion less than it had hoped.

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‘Horizontal Hurricanes’ Pose Increasing Risk for California

/in /by /San Francisco Chronicle

As increasingly intense hurricanes batter the Southeast and the Caribbean, heightening some of the worst fears about a changing climate, California is facing its own threat of bigger and more destructive storms. Mounting research, much of it done in the wake of the near-record rains that pulled California out of a five-year drought this past winter, shows that seasonal soakers may not come as often as they used to, but could pack more punch when they do arrive.

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U.S. and Mexico May be at Odds, But They’ve Reached Agreement on Managing the Colorado River

/in /by /Los Angeles Timesby David Montero

The United States and Mexico expanded a long-term agreement Wednesday that will allow both nations to continue using the Colorado River while also pushing more conservation efforts to ensure that water is available during droughts. The nine-year deal, which expands on a 1944 water treaty between the two countries, would see the United States spend $31.5 million on conservation efforts in Mexico, according to water agencies that are familiar with the plan.

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BLOG:OPINION: What Innovation Looks Like When Water Is A Strategic Resource

/in /by /Green Biz (Oakland)

Practitioners in the water sector are familiar with the statistics on water management in Israel. An estimated 90 percent of the wastewater generated there is reused, making it the global leader in this practice. For comparison, Spain is second at about 20 percent reuse; the United States reuses about 1 percent of its water. In addition to water reuse, Israel supplies about two-thirds of its domestic water from desalination.

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Major Quake Disaster in Southern California Could Cause $300 Billion in Losses

/in /by /CNBCby Jeff Daniels

Mexico City’s earthquake disaster is a reminder of the serious risk of Southern California’s “Big One” striking at any time and causing widespread damage that some estimate could approach upwards of $300 billion. Experts say Southern California is long overdue for a major earthquake along the 800-mile San Andreas Fault, which could cause extensive damage and loss of life to the nation’s second-largest city and the region.

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